Motivation to practice and not to practice physical exercise: Comparative study

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to know the reasons that lead people to the practice and nonpractice of physical exercise. The sample consisted of 185 individuals, 79 were male and 106 female, aged between 12 and 75 years old (M = 29.45; SD = 13.55). Motivation to practice physical exercise was assessed based on the QMAD questionnaire. Through the IMAAD questionnaire (Pereira & Vasconcelos-Raposo, 1997), it was possible to determine the motivation for not practicing physical exercise. The results showed that for non-practitioners of physical exercise, the most important reason for practicing is to “exercise”. In contrast, for practitioners, the most relevant factor is “being in good physical condition”. For non-participants among non-practitioners of physical exercise, the most important motive was “out of laziness”, followed by “lack of sports habits” for both practitioners and non-practitioners of physical exercise.